Fear and certitude

“Extremism is a powerful alliance of fear and certitude,” writes Jon Meacham. “Complexity and humility are its natural foes.

“Faith and life are essentially mysterious, for neither God nor nature is easily explained or understood. Crusades are for the weak, literalism for the insecure.”

Jon Meacham writes about religion in his book American Gospel—God, the Founding Fathers and the Making of a Nation.